A Christmas Day party and gift exchange went off as planned in the basement of the Church of St. Luke and St. Matthew in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn just two days after a fire broke out inside the Episcopal church.

At Dorman Square in Midwood, Brooklyn, the Department of Transportation wants to shut down a one-block stretch of Elm Avenue and a create a pedestrian plaza, like the one in Clinton Hill, where the DOT kicked out cars and installed cafe tables and chairs.

Janna Kennedy Hyten had no idea when she started a haunted house for friends and neighbors 17 years ago that her Brooklyn residence would quickly become the place to visit during Halloween, drawing crowds of 5,000 each year.